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Monday, September 10, 2007

As a participant of Team In Training (TNT), you are STRONGLY encouraged to attend the General Training Sessions (hereafter known as GTS) on Saturday mornings. I have been running, REALLY I HAVE. I keep a training log in which I record each run. In 4 weeks, I have run 35 total miles (that's about 35 times more miles than I have run in the last 5 years).

Also, as a TNT participant, you are assigned a mentor. Your mentor is responsible for ensuring that you are A) Training, B)Attending the GTS sessions, C)Making forward progress. My mentor, Page calls me every few days to check on me. She is fabulous, and for me, a bit intimidating in that she is an experienced marathoner and in WAY better shape than I am. But since she is such a good mentor, it's difficult for me to be intimidated for long. So for the last four weeks, I have had "GOOD" excuses for not attending. Heather and Erik's wedding, Dominic's first T-ball practice, and Dominic's first T-ball game. I actually attended the first GTS but had to leave early. So since I was going to miss the GTS yet again on Saturday (9/8), Page assured me that she would run with me at 6am on Saturday morning, before my T-ball obligation at 8:30am. So we met at the River (Columns Drive - the surreal 5 mile stretch of road that spans part of the Chattahoochee). The results of my one on one training session - I don't breathe (ahh, now the title of the blog makes sense) efficiently.

So my homework for this week is to breathe. Breathe deeply and slowly, control is the key word here. And those that know me would think that would come so naturally. My mentor suggested that I am panicking a bit ... taking into consideration that I ran/walked 2.5 minutes faster a mile with her than in my usual runs, and that I was nervous, and barely slept on Friday night because of being so anxious. So breathing will be my concentration for this week and YES, I will attend the GTS on Saturday, 9/15 no matter what.

Oh, and she also suggested that I might want to minimize the time my heel is on the ground. One thing at a time - maybe breathing will help that too!